Bottle-filling machine.



A. L. FOREMAN.

BOTTLE HLLING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 4, 913.

1,170,232. Patented Feb. 1, 1916.

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BOTTLE FILLING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN 4, I9I3.

Patented Feb. 1, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOR AMOS L. FOREMAN BY HIS ATTORNEY A R/m7 WITNESSES (5 14; m;

AMOS L. FOREIEIAN, OF BALTIMORE. MARYLAND.

BOTTLE-FILLING MACHINE.

Application filed January 4, 1913.

T '0 all whom it may, concern:

Be 11 known that l, Anon L. Fossilst, a citizen of the United States. resid ng 1n Baltimore, Maryland, have invented certain Improvements 11'! Bottle-filling Mas chines, of which the following is a speci.

ficetion.

The object of my invention is to so construct a bottle filling machine as to dispense with the use of alves therein, to

provide for the accurate filling of each bottie, and to prevent the formation during the filling operation.

The machine has been, devised especially for the filling of milk bottles, and will be described as such, although it is applicable for filling bottles with any non-effervescing liquid.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a transverse section of a bottle filling mm chine constructed in accordance with my invention; Figs. .2. 3 and l are views illustrating successive positions of the parts during the filling operation, and Fig. 5 is it side elevation of parts of the operating mechanism of the machine.

Referring in the first instance to Fig. 1 of the drawing, 1l represent suitable side frames upon which is mounted. n tank 2 for receivin the milk. The supply pipe for of foam this tank should be provided with o float valve or equivalent means for preventi v; the rise of the milk in the tank shove a predetermined level.

Projecting upwardly from the bottom of the tank are a series of tubes 3 which end above the. normal level of milk in the tank and also project downwardly from the bottom of the tank, such downwardly prc-' jecting portion of each tube being surrounded by n gasket 4. of rubber or other elastic material. The tank contains as many of the tubes 3 as there are bottles to be filled at one operation, the bottles 5 being disposed as usual in i1, crate 6, which fed longitudinally through the machine in a horizontal direction by any suitable intermittently acting mechanism, the crates, during their travel through the machine. resting upon rails 7 which project inwardly frorn'the side frames 1.

Within the t is displacement struo ture 8, which n y be composed of metal of hollow boxdike form, as shown in liig. l,

or may be a solid structure composed of Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1, 1916.

Serial No. 740,115.

Wood or other available material, this structure almost completely filling the tank but having in it vertical openings 9 extending from top to bottom, and intended for the reception of the tubes Rising and falling movement, Within the tank 2, is imparted to the displacement structure 8 by mechanismv hereinafter described.

Axially disposed Within each of the tubes 3 of the machine is a vent tube 10, each row of. these tubes being mounted upon a, bar 11 at the top of the machine, so that it can be adjustable vertically in respect to said bar, such vertical adjustment being effected in the present instance by threading the upper end of the tube and applying thereto nuts 12, one above and the other beneath the bar 11.

Surrounding or forming part of each of the tubes 10 is a displacementcylinder 13, of such diameter in respect to the internal diameter of the corresponding tube 3, that, when it is forced downwardly into the latter, it will permit the liquid to rise freely between the tube and the displacement cylinder.

Disposed directly beneath each crate, when the latter has been moved to its proper 'ic'sition in the machine, is a platform 14, Whose dimensions are slightly less than the internal dimensions of the crate, and above ssid platform 34 is a supplementary platform 15 of like dimensions, soid platform 15 being vieldingly supported upon the platform, It by means of coiled springs 16, which surround guide rods 17. the latter being secured to the platform 15 but passing through oiienings in the platform 14 and through suitable guide brackets 18 projecting inwardly from the side frames 1.-

T'he platform 14- carries a. series of studs 10, one for each of the bottles contained in the. crate, each of these studs being centrally disposed in respect to its corresponding bottie and said studs being yieldingly supported upon the platform 14 by means of coiled springs 20, the stems of the studs passing through openings in the platform 14 and being provided with nuts 21 Which, by contact with the under side of the platform, limit the projection of the studs above said platform.

To suitable hearings in the lower portions of the side frames 1 adopted etransveise shaft 532 carrying three pairs of cams 23, 24

and 25 to which. intermittent movements of rotation are imparted at predetermined intervals by means of a power cyhnder 26 (Fig. 5), said cylinder containing a piston with rod 27, terminating at its outer end 1n a rack 28, which rack is in engagement with a spur wheel 30 mounted so as to rotate freely upon the shaft 22 and having secured to one face of it a ratchet wheel 31 with which engages a spring pressed pawl 32 carried by an arm 33 on a hub 34, the latter being keyed or otherwise secured to the shaft 22 so as to rotate therewith. 1

The cams 23 act upon anti-friction rollers 35 whose shafts are mounted in suitable bearings on the platform 14. The cams 24 act upon anti-friction rollers 36 carried by bars 37, the lower ends'of these bars being slotted so as to straddle the hubs of the cams 24 and thus be guided in their vertical movements. The upper ends of the rods 37 are connected by yokes 38 to the top of the displacement structure 8. The cams 25 act upon anti-friction rollers 39 mounted upon rods 40 which, like the rods 37, are slotted at their lower ends so as to straddle the hubs of the cams 25, the upper ends of said rods 40 being connected to angle bars 41 which carry the transverse bars 11 upon which the vent tubes 10 are mounted.

The cams 23 are so formed as to impart rising and falling movement to the platform 14 with a dwell at both the upper and lower terminationsof said movement, and the cams 24 and 25 are so formed as to impart rising and falling movement to the bars 37 and 40,'respectively, with a dwell at the upper termination of such movement. Suitable studs 42 on the side frames of the machine serve to aid in the proper vertical guidance of the rods 37 and 40.

At the lower end of each of the vent tubes 10 is a reversely coned flange 43, the upper surface of this flange being provided with spirally disposed ribs or grooves 44, as shown in Fig. 1.

Depending from the bottom of the tank 2 are studs 45 which, by contact with the top faces of the sides and ends of the crates 6 serve to limit the rise of said crates when the mouths of the bottles contact with or are slightly below the gaskets 4 on the' bottom of the tank.

The operation of the machine is as follows: In the normal or inoperative position the displacement structure 8 and the vent tubes 10 occupy their fully elevated position, as shown in Fig; 1, and the platform 14 occupies its fully lowered position, which is such that the upper ends of the studs 19 will be below the lower edge of a crate resting upon the rails 7, so that they will not interfere with the free movement of said crate into its proper position beneath the filling devices with each bottle in line vertically with its corresponding tube 3 of the filling tank. The platform 14 is first.

raised by the action of the cams 23 until the supplementary platform 15 comes into contact with the wires 46 or other structure constituting the bottom of the crate, whereupon said crate with its bottles will partake of the lifting movement of said sup plementary platform 15 until the top face of the crate comes into contact with the depending lugs' 45, whereupon lifting movement of the crate will be arrested, further lifting movement of the platform 14 compressing the springs 16 which serve to maintain the top of the crate in contact jvith the lugs 45 during the time that said crate remains in the elevated pos tion. If the described upward movement of the crate has not caused the mouths of the bottles contained in the crate to contact with and ,be sealed by the resilient gaskets 4 those bottles whose months are still below the gaskets will continue to be raised by the spring-supported studs 19, any upward movement of the platform 14 after the mouth of a bottle has contacted with its corresponding gasket 4 causing a depression of the corresponding stud 19 and a compression of its supporting spring 20,

which thus serves to maintain the mouth of the bottle firmly in contact with its corresponding gasket 4 during the time that the crate is held in the elevated position. By this means proper compensation is provided for differences in the'height of different bottles contained in the crate, and the proper sealing of the mouth of each bottle is insured before the milk is permitted to enter the same. The various parts being now in the position'shown in Fig. 1 the displacement structure 8 is, by the action' of the cams 24, caused to descend into the body of milk contained in the tank 2 and to displace the same, the displaced milk flowing over the tops of the tubes 3 and down through the latter into the-bottles. Just as it is about to enter the bottle the milk is subjected to' the action of the spiral ribs on the upper face of the flange 43 at the lower end of the vent tube 10, and is thereby di-' vided into a number of streams which are thrown outwardly against the inner wall of the bottle in a tangential or transverse direction and are thus caused to descend in a spiral course in contact with said inner wall of the bottle and are thereby subjected to such frictional retardation that they will not forcibly enter the body of milk in the bottle, there being no direct drop of the milk into the bottle, and consequently no such splashing action as occurs when the milk enters the bottle in that way, the re- Su t being that the foaming of the milk platform, means for raising the same, a supname to this specification, in the presence of plementary crate lifting platform yieldingly two subscribing Witnesses.

mounted on said platform and bottle liftin I Y devices independent 0f the crate lifting AMOS POREMA)" platfo zm and also yieldingly mounted upon \Vitnesses:

said main platform. ELSIE FULLERTON,

In testimony whereof, I have signed my I'IAMILTON D. TURNER. 

